At the beginning of the week we went on a student led tour by Brandon and Katie M. of St. Peter's. This was not the first time I had been inside the basicalla since we've been in Rome, but it still amazes me. Of the many places in Italy, it is one in particular I wish my family could visit. Every time i talk to him on the phone he asked, "Have you met the Pope yet?".... not quite Dad. But honestly, just seeing pictures does no justice to how amazing St. Peter's actually is.
To add to the excitement, we revisited the Vatican later in the week to take a tour of the excavations beneath the basicalla, and the tomb of St. Peter. We had to go through security and went in as small groups. It was a really big deal, because only 100 people a day get to visit this site. Not only did we go below the church, but we climbed the infamous dome. We had the choice of either taking the elevator for the first couple hundred steps or walking the old fashioned way. Of course a large majority of us accepted it as a challenge and took the stairs. Half way up, the bottom of my right shoe detached and was flopping lifelessly....therefore I was basically marching up the steps in order to not face plant. After climbing over 500 stairs we reached the top and were able to go outside onto a balcony. The view was beautiful and well worth the steps. (...needless to say we took the elevator down)
Another tour we took was of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. When we got to the museum we were all given "secret agent" one ear-piece headsets, or at least that's what I pretended they were. We took a guided tour, but I found myself lost and group-less numerous times. I was too caught up in taking pictures of everything and admiring the art as the little flag that had 16 on it passed. The guide definitely saved the best for last, The Sistine Chapel. I have to say I pictured it in my head much bigger but it was still amazing. I wish they had pillows on the floor so we could've just laid there all day and stared at the ceiling. It is one thing I defiantly will never forget.
Friday morning the entire group set off for Naples, where our final destination was Sorrento, and Pompeii for one day. This weekend by far went by the fastest. Friday there were some transportation issues with the train strikes, but this did not dull the mood. When we got to the hotel Friday afternoon, my "weekend roommate" Sydney and I found out we were also in a suite with Amy and Danielle. Yes. It poured the entire weekend, and this is no exaggeration. Saturday we took a train to Pompeii to visit the city that was destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius years ago. It was extremely interesting and a lot larger than I expected. Due to the rain (I mean downpour storm) we only got to see the main points.
On the train ride home, I started reading the new book that was assigned, The Talented Mr. Ripley. I was procrastinating until really started reading and soon realized how good the book is. Needless to say I've only been reading for two days and I'm already almost done with the book. The great thing about the book aside from the story line are the details. I love being able to read and directly correlate something from the book to my experience here. I have so many highlighted quotes, but I'll refer to ones towards the beginning of the book, because some people have yet to get to the good part...(*cough* Brandon). An example of one of the details was when Tom was boarding the bus for the first time. "There were no seats, and they were wedged between a skinny, sweating man who smelled and a couple of old peasant women who smelled worse." This could not describe out first experience on bus 64 any better. Hot, smelly, and crowded.
I can't wait to finish reading the rest of the book, and finish out these last two weeks with a bang.
Ciao Aimee,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog. Reading becomes so enjoyable when you can identify with the experience of the characters in the story.